Apparatus for separating suspended particles from gases



Feb. 20, 1951 c. B. M BRIDE 2,542,549

APPARATUS FORASEPARATING SUSPENDED PARTICLES FROM GASES Filed July 17, 194B ll Ticrl.

4 U FL L 5 Sh'eefcs-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Uf/AEL ES 5 Made/p5 BY Arm/Mfr Feb. 20, 1951 c. B; M BRIDE 2,542,549

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUSPENDED PARTICLES FROM GASES Filed July 17, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. 69/1215 5 Mafia/p5 wa y WW Feb. 20, 1951 c. B. MCBRIDE 2,542,549

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUSPENDED PARTICLES FROM GASES Filed July 17, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 II l I /Z- T: Tizrllj.

a INVENTOR.

awn/5s 5 Ma 5005 Feb. 20, 1951 c. a M BRIDE 2,542,549

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUSPENDED PARTICLES FROM GASES Filed July 17, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 A IN V EN TOR. Lav/1215s 5 Me 52/05 A TTO/Z/VEV Feb. 20, 1951 B, MCBRmE 2,542,549

M APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUSPENDED PARTICLES FROM GASES Filed July 17, 1948 '5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

flew/. 155 b. Made/a5 BY Patented Feb. 20, 1951 PARTTCLES FROM GASES Charles B. McBride; Port Chester, N. Y., assignor to The Thermix Corporation, a corporation of Connecticut Greenwich, Conn,

Application July 17, 1948; Serial No. 39,338"

r: Claims. (01.18240) My present inVentionrelates to a method and apparatus for separating suspended particlesfrom gases such as air, flue gases or metallurgi cal fumes.

Heretofore suspended particles have been sep arated centrifugally from air or gases by causing the air to pass in a helical path adjacent the wall of aseparating tube or surface of revolution and then withdrawing it centrally in the opposite direction while thesuspended particles thrown outwardly pass, without change of direction, to theopposite end of the tube or separator,

In my present invention, the gas, such as air, flue gas or other gases, are passed .into one end of a tubular passage in a whirling stream which causes the suspended particles to be thrown outwardly against the inner surface of the tubular passage while the gases .themselves passthroug'h the opposite end of the passage without change of direction. The separated particles collecting,

on the innersurface of: the passage and rotatingthereabout pass outwardly through a slit r slot extending in a general longitudinal direction .in the wall of the passage.

After passing through the slot the suspended particle fall intoadust bin or hopper. A small; amount of the gases may be permitted to pass; through the slot with thesuspended particles in order to avoid. or preventthe building up of pres-;

sure in the space aboutthe tubes. This gas may beaspirated to the entry part of. the tubular pas,- sage and re-passed through the separator to res move the suspendedparticles or, it may be passed through secondary tubes to remove suspended particles.-

Theefiectiveness of separation of the particles from the gas in theseparating tubes or tubular, passages is increased by providingat the entrance end. a flaring deflector which forms an annularpassage adjacent the wall of the tubular passage thus bringing the suspended particles against the inner surface of the tube or passage and providing a space centrally of the passage into. which. the gases, after being freed from the" particles, may fiow before passing through the;

oppositev end of the passage.

A number of tubes may be provided between spaced walls of a dust chamber thus enabling a large. volume of gas to be divided into separate whirling or centrifugal streams. Balance be tween the several tubes or tubular passages is j provided by suitable bafiles. This arrangement of tubes is in multiple A small amount of the gaswithdrawn through the longitudinally extending slot with the separated particles may be aspirated;

tothe inlet end of the tube and some may pass be separatedmay. pass in a direct path thereby,

dastardly with the dusttotthe dust bin and be With the method and apparatus of this inven tion the gases from which the particles are to minimizing the pressure drop required through the apparatus and also greatly economizing in. space; The apparatus may be combined with; other separating apparatus, such as electrical nre ipitating. apparatus, providing a. uniform distribution of air to-thelatter. Also it may be used as a centrifugal separator for gases leaving, an electric preeipitator or the particles have been agglomerated.

a The various features ofthe invention are. illus trated, by way of example,- in.the accompanying,

drawings in which Fig. l is a front view in section on the lines 11, of Fig. 2

of .a separator embodying the invention;

taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

ranged in vertical series;

Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical sections, and Figs. 6 and 7 side elevations of various arrangements of separatorsin an air passage;

Figs; 8-, 9 andlO are plan views similar to thatv of Figs. 4 and 5 of still other arrangements of separators in an air passage;v

Fig. 11 is a plan view; Fig. 12' aside elevation, and Fig. 13 a transverse section on line l3-I3. of Fig. ll of another modification of the inven:-

ti n;

; Fig. 14 is a vertical longitudinal section of an other modification of. the invention, and Fig. 15 is a diagrammatiosidey elevation showing the ar: rang ement of centrifugal separating tubes of the invention with an .electrical precipitator or coin centrator.

.In the embodiment cf the invention as shown? in Figs. 1 and 2,. a number of centrifugal tubes 26ers providedbetween parallel walls 2|: and 22 of a dust chamber. The outer'space'o'f the dust.

chamber between these walls may be closed by'a spacing and enclosing wall 23'; Dust laden-gas; passed through .the centrifugal tubes enters through openings 24'iinthe wall 21 having de fiectors that causethe gases to enter in a whirl; ing or rotating manner.

--erably the openings are: providedby slitting. or

collector in which.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a precipitator Any suitable form ofopenings may beprjovided .for this purpose. Pref 3 cutting the plate 2| radially along the lines 25 and circularly on the line 25 and bending the metal of the wall to form inclined areas 21, inclined for each tube in a single direction as, for example, clockwise or counterclockwise. In the example shown in Fig. 1 the direction of bending of the areas 21 is to provide a clockwise direction to the air entering the tubes 23. The tubes 28 may be flared slightly at 28.

The air is thus given a rotational movement by the deflecting areas 21 to provide a centrifugal force which causes the suspended dust particles to be thrown against the inner cylindrical surface of its tube 20. This rotational and centrifugal efiect is accentuated by means of a deflector 29 which flares outwardly toward the walls of its respective tube and provides an annular passage 30 for the whirling gases. The deflector 29 also provides an inner space into which the gases flow away from the centrifugally deflected particles and from which they are withdrawn through an opening 31 in the wall 22, the opening 3| of each tube being centrally positioned or co-axial with each tube. The openings 3| are preferably of smaller diameter than that of the tubes 20 and are provided with an inwardly extending flange 32 to guard against any separated particles passing outwardly through openings 3|. Preferably the defiector 20 is hollowed out to form a hollow space 33 to increase the tendency for air or gas to be drawn inwardly.

The separated particles thrown against the inner surface of the tube tend to rotate about the inner surface of the tube. To enable them to leave the tube a longitudinal slot 34 is provided in the wall of the tube. The wall of the tube at one side or the slot 34 is bent outwardly or ofiset from the other wall so that the outlet is in line with the path of the particles rotating about and against the inner wall of the tube.

The slot 34 may be slightly tapered in certain cases to compensate for a concentration of dust cles.

For example a series 31 provides for a clockwise rotation and an adjacent series 38 for a counterclockwise rotation with the slots 34 of each series delivering into a downwardly extending dust passage 39 through which the dust falls into a hopper 43. To restrict any tendency for crosswise currents of gases in the dust chamber vertical ba-fiies 4| and 42 are provided in the passage 39 and thespaces between the tubes are spanned by connectin baflles 43. These baffles may be formed by diametrically opposite upper and lower ribs 3 1 and 45 which may have tongue and groove connections as shown at 46 to the next adjacent tube. To equalize the pressures on opposite sides of the baiiles 43 the lower rib 45 may be made somewhat shorter than the upper rib to provide a communicating opening or passage 4'i through which air or gas may pass from the slot 34 to the inlet 35.

Some air may be drawn also downwardly with the falling dust particles into the hopper 411 to promote the downward passage of the dust parti This air is removed through one or more aspirating tubes 48 similar in construction to the tubes 23 and placed in the upper part of the dust hopper 4:1 or the lower part of the dust chamber beneath hopper sealing baiiles 49 which span the space between the dust passages 39 leaving a small opening 50 for the downward passage of the dust stream. The sealing bafiies 49 may be either gabled, as shown in Fig. 3, or squares or of any other configuration suflicient to receive the aspirating tubes.

v 22 of the dust chamber may be quite closely particles toward one end of the tube. This slot preferably extends from about the rear edge of the deflector 29 to substantially the opposite end of the tube. It extends in a general longitudinal direction but need not necessarily be in a linear direction parallel to the axis of the tube.

Y The rapid rotation of the air against the slot 34 tends to build up a pressure in the dust chamber about the tubes. This pressure may be reduced somewhat and the passage of the dust particles through the slot 34 facilitated by aspirating a small amount of gases from the dust chamber into the tube 20 in advance of the slot 34 and preferably into the annular space between the deflector 29 of the wall of the tube where the speed of the gases approaches its maximum with a consequent reduction in pressure or static head. This is accomplished by providing an arcuate cut 35, Fig. 2, through a part of the wall of the tube and bending the tube outwardly at as 36.

The tubes may be arranged in multiple in a chamber. Such an arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 3 in which tubes are arranged in a number of vertical series. In the example shown there are six series of S-tubes but it will be understood that the number of tubes in a series and thenumber of series may be varied to suit different dimensional requirements. Preferably the tubes of each series provide for the same direction of rotation of the gases which may be opposite to the direction of an adjacent series so that both series direct the separate particles into a downwardly extending dust passage.

spaced. This enables the dust chambers with a large number of tubes to be arranged compactly in a small space.

Various examples of such arrangements are shown in Figs. 4-13.

As shown in Fig. 4, two tube containing dust chambers 5| and 52 are provided in a flue or pas-I sageway 53, the dust chambers being arranged at an angle to the direction of flow of the gases, oneend of each tube joining with a side wall of the passage 53, and the space between the opposite:

ends being spanned by a wall 54. The air from which the dust is to be separated passes through the tubes of the respective dust chambers in the direction shown by the arrows in Fig. 4.

, A side view is shown in Fig. 6, the hopper for collecting the dust being indicated by the numeral 55. In Fig. 5, two dust chambers 56 and 51 are arranged in a V-formation with the separating ends close against the side walls of the chamber and converging to an apex 58 to close the space: between the walls except through the tubes of the dust chamber.

In Figs. 8 and 9 a number of dust chambers? 59, 60, 6! and 62 are arranged in zig-zag formation to span the space in a flue B3.

Fig. 10 shows an arrangement of dust chambers and collecting tubes 64 and 65 arranged in V-form'ation in reverse position to that of Fig. 5. Fig. 11 shows a number of separating dustchambers 66, 61, 68 and 69 arranged in parallel A lengthwise to the general direction of the movement of the gases.

The walls 10 and H of the passage 12 converging toward the dust chamber 65 and 69 respectively and the spaces between the respective dust chambers being spanned by? walls 13, I4 and 15 thereby forming for each dust at a-54c chamber an 'inlet and outlet compartment in the.

passageway, The dust from the dust chamber 66-459 may be collected in a common hopper it which, as indicated in Fig. 13, may be provided with separating tubes 71 delivering into a hopper '18.

The arrangement for accomplishing this secondary separation is also shown in Fig. 14. In this figure a dust chamber, 19 formed between spaced walls 80 and 8i and provided with a number ofseparating tubes'82 delivers downwardly into a collecting hopper 83. In the upper end of the hopper 83 is asecondarydust chamber 84 between a continuation 85 of the wall 8] and a wall85 spaced therefrom. The'lower part or the dust chamber formed betweenthewalls 85 and 86 is sealed from the hopper 83 by a separating inclined hopper wall 81. Separating tubes 88 similar to those of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are provided between the walls 85 and 86 to receive dust laden gases from the lower end of the dust chamber 19 or the upper part of the hopper 83. The dustfree gases may pass through an outlet 89 to any suitable receiver or to the main air passage for dust-free gases.

As shown in Fig. a pair of dust chambers 90 and 91 may be arranged on-opposite sides of an electric precipitator 92. Air may be passed through the .dust separating chamber 90 to remove the greater bulk of coarser particles and the partly or largely dust-free gases or air then pass into and through the electric precipitator 92. From the latter the gases or air pass through the dust separating chamber 9| in which particles agglomerated in'the electric precipitator are efficiently separated.

Through the above invention I have provided a. particle separator of simple, inexpensive, construction in which gases to be freed from suspended particles pass directly and with a minimum of change of direction through the centrifugal path required for the separation of the particles. As the path is short and direct a large number of tubes may be placed compactly. The dust-free air or gas is delivered from the centrifugal separating apparatus by flowing in substantially the same direction and with a uniform forward velocity throughout so that it may be received with advantage in an electric precipitator or other precipitator if further separation of particles is required. The compact arrangement of the tubes is of great advantage where apparatus is to be installed in a limited space, such as in power plants.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for separating suspended particles from gases which comprises a dust chamber having spaced vertical walls, vertical series of centrifugal tubes spanning the space between said vertical walls, one of said walls having inlet openings to one end of said tubes and inclined thereto to give the entering air a whirling motion, the opposite wall having openings centrally of said tubes, each said tube having a flaring deflector at its entrance end to form a converging annular passage and having a longitudinal slot in its wall between said deflector and the opposite end of said tube and delivering into the space between said series of tubes, said space between said series of tubes forming a downwardly extending dust passage, a hopper below said dust chamber, sealing baflies between the dust passages and centrifugal tubes in the space beneath said sealing bafiles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 having a bafiie ex- 6." tending v vertically "in said dust said centrifugal tubes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the in clination of the inlet openings to the tubesof one vertical series is reversed to that of the next adjacent series. 2-;-

4, Apparatus for separating suspendedpartie cles from gases which comprises .a dust chamber havinga pair of spaced, parallel, vertical walls; tubes extending .from one of said wallsto the opposite wall; one of said walls having groups of slots, one group for each of said tubes within the perimeter of said tube, the slots of each group extending .in .radial directions from a c'ene tral point and the areas of .said wall between said slots being inclined to provide rotatory. paste sages into each said tube; the opposite wall have ing an opening for each tube and a flan'ge'about said opening extending Iintosaid tubeand spaced from the wall thereof to form :an annular pocket, said tube having a longitudinal slot terminating in said pocket.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 in longitudinal slot is tapered.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 in which the edges of said longitudinal slot are oiT-set.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 having a deflec-j tor within each said tube adjacent said slotted wallthe periphery of said deflector being spaced from the Wall of its respective tube to provide an annular passage in advance of said slot.

8. The apparatus of claim 4 having deflectors, one for each said tube, mounted on said slotted walland extending inwardly of its respective tube to form an annular passage between the periphery of said deflector and the wall of its respective tube in advance of said slot.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 having deflectors, one for each tube, mounted on said slotted wall axially of said tube and extending into said tube to form an annular passage in advance of said slot, said tube having an inlet opening to passage? between which as said annular passage.

10. The apparatus of claim 4 in which said tubes are arranged in vertical rows and in which said longitudinal slots are at the sides of said tube and the edges of said slots are oil-set to deliver downwardly into said dust chamber.

11. The apparatus of claim 4 in which said tubes are arranged in series of vertical rows and in which said longitudinal slots of said tubes are at the sides of said tubes and ofi-set to deliver downwardly and in which the longitudinal slots of adjacent rows are on opposed sides of said tubes.

12. Apparatus for separating suspended particles from gases which comprises a dust chamber having a pair of spaced, parallel, vertical Walls; a series of vertical rows of tubes extending substantially horizontally from one of said walls to the opposite wall; one of said walls having groups of slots, one group for each of said tubes within the perimeter of said tube, the slots of each group ext nding in radial directions from a central point and the areas of said Wall between said slots being inclined to provide rotatory passages into each said tube; the opposite wall having an opening for each tube and a flange about said opening extending into said tube and spaced from the wall thereof to form an annular pocket; each tube having a longitudinal slot terminating in said pocket and having its edges off-set to deliver downwardly, the longitudinal slots of the tubes of adjacent rows being opposed and chutes in said dust chamber to receive particles discharged from said longitudinal slots.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 having passages from said dust chamber to the inlet ends of said tubes.

14. A centrifugal separating tube having a wall closing one end, said wall having radial slots within the periphery of said tube the areas of said wall between said slots being inclined to provide rotatory inlet passages to said tube, a wall closing the opposite end of said tube and having an opening, a flange about said opening extending into said tube to form an annular pocket, the wall of said tube having a longitudinal slot terminating in said pocket and a deflector secured to said slotted wall centrally of said slots and extending into said tube to form a tapering annular passage in advance of said slot in the Wall of said tube.

15. A centrifugal separating tube having a wall closing one end, said wall having radial slots within the periphery of said tube the areas of said wall between said slots being inclined to provide rotatory inlet passages to said tube, a wall closing the opposite end of said tube and having an opening, a fiange'about said opening extending into said tube to form an annular pocket, the wall of said tube having a longitudinal slot terminating in said pocket, and a deflector secured centrally of said slottedtube and extend? ing into said tube to provide a tapering annular passage in advance of said slot in said tube, said tube having an entrance opening into said tapered passage.

16. The centrifugal separating tube of claim 14 in which said longitudinal slot is tapered.

17. The centrifugal separating tube of claim 14 in which the edges of said longitudinal slot are off-set.

CHARLES B. MCBRIDE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 5' 1,757,432 Kamrath May 6, 1930 1,970,077 Collins Aug. 14,1934 1,997,125 Soyez Apr. 9, 1935 2,059,521 Hawley Nov. 3, 1936 2,082,242 Bowen June 1, 1937 2,331,786 Lincoln Oct. 12, 1943 2,348,785 Bullock Mar. 16. 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1 580,936 Great Britain Sept. 25, 1946 

